**1.5 Effects of pesticides on human health**

The use and improper handling of pesticides during their application cause a lot of problems to human health in developing countries. Many studies have pointed out the occupational health hazards of farmers posed by the unsafe use of pesticides. The adverse effects usually observed by farmers after the usage of pesticides on their farms include but are not limited to eye irritation, vomiting, and headache.

About eighty percent (80%) of farmers are aware of the adverse health symptoms poses by pesticides as a result of their intoxication at the time of their applications [42].

The outcomes of their study on the adverse effects of pesticides have similar results with other research works carried out in other developing countries. For instance, Dasgupta et al. [87] reported "negative health effects such as headache, dizziness, eye irritation, vomiting, dermal diseases and gastrointestinal problems after pesticide application in different parts of developing countries." More so, a study by Miah et al. [88] found some similar negative health symptoms. Also, nausea in farmers that grow vegetables in south-east Bangladesh was attributed to pesticides effects. The majority of the negative health effects or signs were reported after the application of pesticides in some countries in South Asia like Pakistan, India, and Nepal [89–91].

However, most of the negative health issues reported by the farmers after pesticides application were due to their inability to follow safety measures on the labels of the pesticides such as spraying pesticides without the use of a nose and mouth mask, covering shoes, and without covering other part of their body effectively [87, 88].

Although, a report issued by Sumon et al. [42] stated that about 82% of farmers normally cover their faces and body with clothes during pesticides application. However, mere covering of the face and body are not enough preventive measures to observe during pesticides application. The more advanced ways of pesticides effects preventive measures during application require farmers or pesticides users to follow the guidelines stipulated by Kabir and Rainis [92]. In their study, they gave some preventive measures required by every pesticides applicator to observe during pesticides application which include: wearing gum-boots, hand gloves, masks during pesticides application and washing of spraying equipment, and taking bath immediately after application.

Furthermore, to reduce or eliminate the dilemma of pesticides risks, it must be the primary responsibility of both governmental and non-governmental organizations to shoulder the responsibility of creating awareness programs in the communities where the pesticides applicators lived. More so, the government must be responsible for the training of farmers to ensure that agricultural workers have good knowledge of the protective guidelines or measures. To achieve this, pesticides industries can bring about product stewardship programs making the industries themselves co-responsible for their products during usage in the field, and the storage. Furthermore, the public sector that is, the government needs to ensure basic training among the agricultural workers that use pesticides for farming to gather knowledge and to build awareness on the safe use and handling of pesticides and subsequently can introduce laws on the use of pesticides and the license for pesticide spraying only for the trained farmers.

In order to create a sound ecological environment, the total removal of harmful pesticides (Chlorfenvinphos, Diuron, Atrazine, Endosulfan, Alachlor, Pentachlorophenol to mention a few) that were banned as reported in their studies as a result of their persistence in the environment should be implemented without any form of compromise to the said assessments [15, 93–95].

Pesticide-related pollution has been causing a persistent and continuous environmental problem [96]. Pesticides pose potential risks to air and water quality, crops, animal health, and human health, to mention but just a few. Significant issues related to pesticide use and application, include over-application, contamination of surface and underground water [97], and drift to unintended targets environment thereby affecting non-target organisms.

Pesticide drift which signifies the amount of pesticide active ingredient that is deflected out of the treated area by the action of air currents has the potential to affect *Effect of Biodegradable Multiple Pesticides on Aquatic Biospecies DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104626*

#### **Figure 6.** *Effect of pesticides on human health 1.*

non-target organisms and the environment [98]. Greater proportions of pesticides concentration were unable to reach the targeted area [99]. However, the presence of pesticides concentration in an unwanted area always leads to the loss of some crops, wildlife population and sometimes cause chaos in natural environment [100]. In the past, the EU has experienced serious concerns about the dispersal of pesticides categorized as persistent organic pollutants (POPs). These POPs are capable of transporting across international boundaries far from their original sources, even to regions where they have never been used or produced (**Figures 6** and **7**) [101].

**Figure 7.** *Effect of pesticides on human health 2.*
